Carpenter&#39;s tool



Dec. 6, 1966 O. O. HANSON CARPENTERS TOOL Filed March 17, 1965 United States Patent Oiiiice 3,289,3@1 Patented Dec. 5, 1956 3,289,301 CARPENTERS TOL Uve t). Hanson, Johnson City, rifenn., assigner to Mayes Brothers Tool Manufacturing Company, .Iohnson City, Tenn., a corporation of Michigan Filed Mar. 17, 1965, Ser. No. 440,446 2 Claims. (Cl. 33-93) This invention relates to improvements in carpenters tool, and has for its general object `the provision of a multi-use instrument of compact design engineered primarily to produce a tool by means of which rafter and stair cuts may be accurately marked off with ease and expedition, and which furthermore lends itself to sundry other operations performed by a carpenter or, in fact, any worker in metal or wood.

Other more particular objects and advantages in view will, with the foregoing, appear and be understood in the course of the following description and claims, the invention consisting in the novel construction and in the adaptation and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

FIGURE l is a plan view of my improved tool showing the same in position to be used as a T-square or a level.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary plan view with the parts in position to mark a hip or valley rafter cut.

` FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view with the parts in position to mark a common rafter cut; and

FIGS. 4 and 5 are fragmentary vertical sectional views drawn to an enlarged scale on line 4-4 of FIG. 3 and line 5-5 of FIG. 2 respectively.

The instrument of the present invention is composed of two members with one such member, designated generally by 1t), being in the form of a carpenters square, namely a moderately thin blade, metal by preference, formed to a right-angled shape with a long arm 11, commonly termed a beam, and a short arm 12, commonly referred to as a tongue. A pivot hole is provided on the longitudinal median line of the tongue in proximity of the free end thereof, and there is provided in the beam arm a slot 13 located on the longitudinal median line, this slot corresponding in width to the diameter of the pivot hole and having the center about which its half-circle inner end is cut located on the longitudinal center line of the tongue, thus positioning the inner end of the slot in alignment, considered longitudinally of the short arm, with the pivot hole. The dimensions of the instrument are perforce not critical but I find that a convenient size is one in which the beam is 1 foot in length, and the perpendicular distance from the center line of slot 13 to the center of the pivot hole is 31/2 inches.

In the extreme free-end edge of the beam arm there is provided a notch 14, and adjacent to this notched edge there is provided a transversely disposed sectoral-shaped aperture 15.

The other of the two component members is a straight arm designated generally by 17 and is fabricated from two strips 1S and 19 arranged to be applied one upon one side and the other upon the other side of the member 10, with the length thereof being approximately twice that of the tongue 12. The width of the strips is identical with that of the tongue,

At one extremity the two strips are pierced to provide pivot holes adapted to register with the pivot hole in the tongue 12, and received through these registering pivot holes is a bushing 20 for a bolt 21 complemented by a knurled clamping nut 22. The two strips 18 and 19 are formed at their approximate midlengths with slots 23 located on the longitudinal median line, and received through these slots and the slot 13 of the beam arm 11 is a bushing 24 for a bolt 25 and its complement in a knurled clamping nut 26. The length of these slots 23 is such as will permit the straight arm 17 to swing about the center of the screw 21 as an axis between two extremes one of which locates the bushing 24 at one end and the other of which locates said bushing at the other end of the slot 13. p

The free end of the straight arm 17 is iitted with a spacer block 27 fixed in placed by screws, rivets or the like, and defined by this block along lthe sides and the en-d of the arm are pockets exposed to the edge faces. Bubble-containing levelling capsules 30 shown in the drawings by dotted lines are gripped between the strips in each of these pockets so as to lie flush with the side edge or the end edge, as the case may be, of the strips. One such strip is moderately longer than the other. A row of in-line holes 31 which differ in. size and are arranged to receive a pin or other centering implement pierce this prolongation of the strip. In a manner hereinafter to be described these holes are used for drawing circles. Other than for a prolongation provided by the strip 18 where `the tool is formed with said holes 31, the two strips 18 and 19 are identical, and for a purpose which will hereinafter appear the matching ends thereof having the pivot holes are characterized in that one corner is rounded on a radius one-half the width of the strip, drawn about the center of the pivot hole as an axis. The other corner is right-angled and has the referred-to inch markings applied to the edge of the straight arm which leads thereto.

A number of scales are etched or otherwise impressed in each of the two members. That of the straight arm 17 is comprised of inch markings along the outer edge of one face running from the pivot center toward the free end. Similar inch markings are provided on a corresponding face of the square 10, running from the root end, toward the free end and from the free end toward the root end, respectively, along the outer and inner edges of the beam arm 11, and running along the outer edge from the root end toward the free end of the tongue 12.

On this same face of the beam arm 11, markings from 1 to 12 are provided on slant lines tangent to a circle taken about the pivot center 21 on a radius equaling one-half the width of the straight arm 17, with each such slant line representing the respective angle which a common rafter occupies when `the same has the indicated rise, in inches, per foot of horizontal run.

Upon the opposite face of the beam arm 11 slant lines :are provided on the comparatively minor slopes commonly employed for door sills and window sills, and these slant lines are correspondingly marked. The slant lines for hip and valley rafters, likewise marked for inch rise per foot of run, appear above the sill markings along one side edge of the beam 11, and along the other side edge there :are provided slant lines marked in terms of degrees. The inch rise slant lines, which occur along the inside side edge, are separated by the slot 13 from the degree slant lines which occur along the outside side edge.

For maximum clarity in describing the use of the instrument, the two side edges of the straight arm 17 are designated by 32 and 33. Assume that it is desired to mark off the cuts for a rafter. Selecting the marking proper for a common rafter of for hip or valley rafters, as the case may be, the straight arm is set so that its edge 33 exactly coincides with the slant line which represents the desired rise per foot of run. The` opposite edge 32 is then placed so vas to bear against the side edge of the stock piece from which the rafter is to be cut, and either side edge of the beam arm 11 may then be used in marking upon such stock piece the ridge or plumb cut and the tail cut. In this position it will be noted that a right-angled corner upon the free tip of the tongue projects beyond the edge 32 and acts with the beam arm so that both ride on the face of the stock piece and thus stabilize the instrument against any tendency to rock. To now mark the seat or birds mouth cut, the in strument is reversed so that the other edge 33 bears again the side edge of the stock piece. The actual horizontal bearing of the seat cut, regardless of the roof pitch, will in every instance be approximately 4 in length by sliding the instrument to the proper position within the length of the rafter stock and then marking the birds mouth simply by tracing along the outer edges of the protruding heel portion of the member 10.

The tool is intended to be assembled in two different manners. In addition to the manner illustrated, which accommodates the tool to a number of uses, the straight arm may be reversed upon the square, and this is to say that the pivot hole of the straight edge 17 is made t0 register with the slot 13 of the beam 11, and the slot 23 of the straight edge is made to register with the pivot hole of the tongue 12, receiving in each instance one of the two nutted bolts 21-22 or 25-26. The rounded corner provided upon the inner end of the straight edge becomes significant in this manner of assembly and should be so placed that the same faces in a direction opposite that in which it faces when assembled in the manner shown in the drawings, namely toward the outside rather than the inside of the angle formed by the square. Now, as said rounded end is slid up or down along the length of the slot 13, swinging about the pivot hole of the tongue 12 as an axis, the rounded comer lies at all times flush with the back edge of the beam 11. Assembled in this manner, the tool permits the pitch of an existing roof, or in fact any straight-faced piece of material, to be determined, simply by holding the back edge of the beam 11 against the face of the material and then shifting the straight arm relative to the square until the bubble becomes levelled. The pitch can then be read from the markings upon the beam, being the sloping mark of the beam with which the edge 32 of the straight edge coincides.

When using the instrument to scribe a parallel line, the edge 33 is caused to bear against the outer edge of the board and the point of a pencil is inserted in the aperture 15 and held against the constricted end thereof as the instrument is moved longitudinally of the board. The point at which the clamping nut 26 is set within the length of the slot 13 perforce determines the distance between the outer edge of the board and the scribed line.

To draw circles with the diameter here also determined by the location of the clamping nut in the slot 13, a centering pin is inserted through one of the holes 31, selected according to the size of the pin, and a pencil is again held in the restricted end of the aperture 15 while turning the instrument about the said pin as a center. Should it be desired to draw a circle around the center of :a xed pin as an axis, the right-angled cut 35 which is formed in the extremity of the strip 18 alongside the holes 31 is employed, the inside corner of such cut being pressed against such fixed pin.

It should perhaps be here mentioned that the tool adapts itself to the making of stair cuts if the same is altered in several respects, principal among which is a lengthening of the tongue part 12 of the square 10. It is to be understood that the bushing 24 is not a spacer in that such would not permit the nut 26 to perform its intended clamping oice and thereby fix the members and 17 in selected adjusted positions. Bushing 24 is a roller bushing, having a length moderately less than the thickness of the member 17 and rolling freely both upon the bolt 25 and within the slot 13. While not here illustrated, the washer 36 against which the slotted head of the bolt 25 bears may track in a recessed slot so as to be 4 flush with the concerned face of the member 17, and such slotted head may be countersunk in said washer. The washer 37 may likewise be recessed and its related bolt 21 counter-sunk, producing a flush face for the strip 18 of member 17'.

Hole 15 in FIG. 1 is an olf center hole through the material located in such a way that besides being used for scribing, it can be used to hang the tool with a plumb line in a plumb manner and determine whether anything is plumb or level by line of sight. The tool can be hung in position as shown in FIG. 1 by attaching it to a rod or pole making sure the arm reads level, and then by moving the arm to line up with the grade, the degree :and inches rise per foot can be fairly closely determined.

Hole 39 can be used to aflix the tool for sighting or scribing together with hole 15.

Niche 38 in FIGS. 2 and 3 is a scribe niche to steady the point of a pencil while scribing in a distance which may have been measured or gained from a margin, rabbit, overhang, etc.

Sundry uses incident to measuring, plumbing, leveling and squaring to which the instrument lends itself will be apparent without express reference thereto, having knowledge of the nature and working of the parts. Minor changes in the details of construction can be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention, whereor it is my intention that no limitations be implied and that the hereto annexed claims be given the broadest interpretation to which the employed language fairly admits.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. A carpenters tool comprising two members detachably interconnected for relative motion with one of said members being a carpenters square providing parallel-sided integral tongue and beam elements of corresponding width,

having in the free end of the tongue a circular aperture placed on the longitudinal median line thereof,

and having in the beam a slot located on the longitudinal median line and prolonged into the juncture portion of the square which is common to both the tongue and the beam,

the other of said members comprising a parallel-sided straight arm of a width corresponding to that of each of said tWo elements of the square provided at one end with both a right-angled and a rounded corner with the latter developed on a radius one-half the width of the arm,

having a circular aperture centered in respect of the axis about which said corner is rounded,

and also providing a slot located on the longitudinal median line of the arm with its two ends spaced from the aperture in approximate correspondence with the spacing between the aperture of the tongue and the inner and outer ends, respectively, of the slot in the beam,

said circular apertures having a like diameter corresponding to a width common to the two slots so as to interchangeably receive two similar nutted bolts as a detachable connection either with one bolt passing through the two circular apertures while the other bolt passes through the two slots or with one bolt passing through one slot and one aperture while the other bolt passes through the other slot and the other aperture,

said straight arm being fabricated from two correspond ing pieces secured in parallel spaced relation by a connection located at the end thereof opposite the circular aperture and receiving the square in the space therebetween, the beam element of said square being provided upon one of its faces with two different sets of slant lines each related to the side edge of the straight arm which leads to the right-angled corner and with one of said sets indicating inch rise per foot and occurring to one side of the beam elements slot and with the other set indicating degrees of pitch and occurring to the other side of said slot,

the rounding of said corner causing the same to lie flush with an outer edge of the beam irrespective of any angular position into which the straight arm may be shifted relative to the beam when the straight arm and square are connected in the last-mentioned manner,

the right-angled corner serving to prolong the related side edge suiiicient to reach the set of slant lines which occur upon the far side of the beam elements slot,

said straight arm at the end thereof opposite the rounded corner carying leveling bubbles so placed that the bubbles become centered when the parallel side edges of the arm occupy horizontal planes,

means holding said two corresponding pieces in spaced relation to each other,

said means comprising a spacer block fixed between said pieces,

said spacer block being firmly xed between said pieces,

and a leveling device in said spacer block,

said leveling device comprising level bubbles disposed laterally through the side of said pieces whereby the level position of said pieces can be determined either -in a vertical or a horizontal plane.

2. The carpenters tool recited in claim 1 wherein a hole is formed in the end of said arm remote from said beam,

said hole being offset laterally in said arm in the direction said beam extends from said arm whereby a plumb line can be attached to said arm by means of said hole,

and said tool can be used to determine the level relation of a plane by the operator sighting along the said beam.

No references cited.

2O LEONARD FORMAN, Primary Examiner. 

